Display structures, racks and cartons formed from corrugated board are widely used in retail establishments for displaying merchandise. The corrugated boards used to form the display structures, racks and cartons are typically die cut from corrugated board and are foldable from an initially flat state to an assembled state for use.
One particular corrugated board display carton commonly used in the art is what is common known as a corrugated “PDQ” display carton. Display cartons of this type are adapted to contain a plurality of “impulse” type items such as bottles of aspirin, candy, gum or the like. PDQ display cartons generally comprise, in their assembled state, a bottom wall, a pair of opposed side walls, a front wall and a rear wall. The top of the display carton is open and the front wall of the display carton is normally of a height that is considerably less than a height of the rear wall of the carton. In this manner, a customer can view the products contained within the display carton and access the products from the front of the display carton to thereby remove one of the plurality of products for purchase. Often, the wholesaler or manufacturer will ship the display carton to a retailer in its assembled state with the products preloaded in the carton. When the display carton is shipped in this manner a shrink fit piece of cellophane or the like is wrapped around the display carton to maintain the products securely in the carton during shipping. Once the display carton and products arrive at the retail establishment, the retailer can simply remove the cellophane and place the display carton on a shelf or the like for sale of the products. Often, at the retail establishment, the display cartons are placed on a specifically designed rack for holding a plurality of PDQ display cartons.
Display cartons of the type described above have a number of benefits. First, since the display cartons are constructed from corrugated board, they are inexpensive which enables the retailer to simply discard the display carton once all of the products contained in the display carton have been sold. Also, from the perspective of the manufacturer, the display cartons are inexpensive and durable thereby helping maintain manufacturing and shipping costs at a minimum. In addition, the display cartons may be shipped and displayed in the same carton thereby also minimizing costs.
Although known display cartons have numerous advantages, as discussed above, they do have one major disadvantage. Specifically, since the these display cartons are normally constructed entirely from corrugated cardboard the front wall of the display is opaque which can obstruct the consumer's view of the products contained within the display carton. This disadvantage is particularly troublesome when the products contained within display carton do not have a height sufficient to extend significantly above the top edge of the front wall of the display carton, the front wall thereby preventing the consumer from easily viewing the product. This disadvantage is also particularly troublesome when the products are arranged in a stacked configuration in the display and a sufficient number of products have been sold such that the front wall blocks the consumer from viewing the remainder of the products in the display carton.